First day of Fall, but it doesn't feel like it

23 September 2017

Maria may bring hurricane conditions to the eastern-most portions of the Turks and Caicos and the Southeastern Bahamian Islands overnight with the possibility of some tropical storm conditions to the portions of the Central Bahamas.Hurricane Warnings were in effect for the Turks and Caicos and Southeastern Bahamas while Tropical Storm Watches were posted for the Central Bahamas as of late Thursday evening.

It's still a little too early to tell about the rest of the East Coast once we get north of our state.

- The forecast track of Hurricane Maria shifted slightly west early Saturday morning, bringing a small sliver of North Carolina's coast into the cone of uncertainty.

First, the known impacts: The hurricane center said waves stirred up by Maria will reach the U.S. East Coast over the next few days and could cause rough surf and deadly rip currents.

But now the question has become how close will Maria be when it makes that pass? What those clouds mean is that the dominating ridge of high pressure isn't as dominating as it once was.

Rain chances should be on the low side for our Friday, in the 10-20% range, 20-30% Saturday and near 30-40% Sunday.

As the storm bends more towards the north by the start of the workweek, it's likely it will slow down even more and could stall offshore of North Carolina.

Tropical Storm Jose is stationary in the western Atlantic and will meander off the coast of southern New England as it loses strength over the next few days. The current forecast from the National Hurricane Center has Maria weakening to a minimal Category 1 hurricane by Wednesday morning. A watch is typically issued 48 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds, conditions that make outside preparations hard or unsafe. It should not be a threat to land according to the hurricane center.

Computer models are all over the place on Lee, with both its track and intensity forecasts.